CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY MEMBER OFFERS CONDOLENCE TO AZERBAIJAN ON KHOJALI GENOCIDE

Published: 02-25-2009

Azerbaijan, Baku, 24 February 2009

Trend News, E. Rustamov

California State Assembly member Felipe Fuentes offered his condolences to the Azerbaijani people on the occasion of the 17th anniversary of the Khojali Genocide.

Armenian troops committed genocide in the Khojali settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh on Feb. 26, 1992.
Within hours after the troops entered Khojali, over 600 unarmed Azerbaijani citizens were killed. Among them were 106 women and 83 children. About 1,000 people were disabled by shots; 8 families were fully destroyed. A total of 25 children lost both of their parents and 130 children lost one of them. About 1,275 people were taken prisoner. Around 150 people went missing.

Fuentes sent a letter to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev offering his condolences on the tragic events, Azerbaijani Consul in Los Angeles Elin Suleymanov told Trend News in a telephone conversation on Feb. 24.

"This is a very important event. Because there are many pro-Armenian officials in California. People around the world are gradually coming to understand that Armenians provide false information about the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict," Suleymanov said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group